Playing with a boy her age (Isaiah Kerkstra-Williams)
Playing with the Christmas Tree
Acting like Cousin Eddie in Christmas Vacation
Driving a car..."Watch out, man standing on the center line"
Eating a puff...and loving it (you can guess if she swallowed it or not) So in order for me to get a shower in the morning I strap Brielle into her bouncy seat and let her play away. I knew this couldn't last forever and today became the last day that I could do it because when I peeked out of the shower to make sure she was okay this is what I saw...
Well... a lot has gone on in the last couple of weeks.
Halloween was definitely a highlight for us and our little penguin! Brielle wasn't crazy about the hat, but once we handed out the candy she didn't care she just loved watching everyone get candy. And a lot of people loved seeing Brielle all dressed up. The most popular comment we received was, " Ahh, he's such a cute little penguin."
I guess thats what you get when you have a gender-neutral costume and a daughter that looks like her daddy!
Fall is obviously upon us. And as first time homeowners, with fall, comes raking leaves. This past Saturday morning while Brielle took a nice little nap we spent our entire peaceful morning raking leaves. As you can see this is Chad in the middle of our leaves pile. Yes, the leaves are up to the knees of this 6'2 man.
And of course while we are loading up leaves, the wind picks up and we are back to square one of raking. Ah yes - we know what we're going to be doing this coming weekend!
After our Saturday afternoon of raking, we spent the rest of the day with friends going to Starr Hill Winery and on to Denny's Burger Joint...home of the 2 lb burger.
Meet the contestants of the 2 lb burger challenge. From left to right: Jordan - the Marine, Dave - the lawyer to be, JT - the Contractor, and Chad - the Professor.
The rules of the contest were: you had to eat the ENTIRE 2 lb burger (actually 5 1/2 pounds after adding condiments and buns), you could not use any utensils, you could only remove one condiment (lettuce, tomato, mayo, relish, onion, ketchup, pickles), and you had to eat it within an hour.
So do you think anyone was victorious? Lets just put it this way...
* one of the challengers threw up outside the restaurant after getting 1/2 a bun away from being victorious
* another had to leave before the hour was up so didn't have a chance to really be in the competition (even though he hated the taste of the burger...so I don't think he would have been a winner)
* the burger just got the best of the third contestant. It really bothered him for a while having this little 2 lb burger get the best of him, but as the night went on he realized that this burger has gotten the best of most people and really came to accept it.
* and finally, the fourth was too busy watching the Penn State football game to really even realize he was eating a gigantuan burger.
Can you tell which one was Chad?
Brielle was really hoping to get in on the competition as well...but couldn't quite get her mouth around the burger.
And alas...one other fall pic of our little girl.
Good Luck Aunt Beef at Regionals this weekend! We're cheering for you!
They say that Halloween is the time for scariness and I've already gotten a taste of October fright. This weekend we stayed fifteen minutes from Hell (in Ann Arbor). I must have been at the zoo early Saturday afternoon because I was getting passed from Lions to varmints back to Lions and even to a Wildcat every now and then. I got drowsy and fell into a deep sleep soon after the PSU-Michigan game began.
I did find one good thing about Ann Arbor...they have a swimming pool! So I was able to play with Mommy and Daddy, Grandpa and Grandma, Aunt Kim and Uncle Eric, and Brooke and Grant (although Mommy was very bad and did not take any pics with the Gma's and Gpa's, and the Petro Family) But here are just a few with Mommy and Daddy.
We love the fall out here in Pennsylvania...for Chad mainly because of Penn State football...but the mountains are so beautiful with the changing colors.
We went to an Altoona soccer game the other night not fully realizing how cold and windy it was going to be and being the smart parents that we are, simply dressed Brielle in a sweatshirt, so we had to do a little improvising to keep her warm...Dad's body heat, body hair and fleece coat.
Brielle has all the toys you could mention and what does she like to play with the most? Yep, the Ritz Toasted Chips bag...go figure. We're working our way up to the cardboard boxes.
Can you tell what we started last week?
Yep...you guessed it...rice cereal! After a little confusion at first, Brielle loves it!
Otherwise not a whole lot going on, so we'll just add a few more pics
Brielle spent one entire evening playing with Moms foot and the coupons ads...she really knows how to get straight to Moms heart!
Yep, another laundry pic...what can we say we love the way she folds our shirts!
We took a whirlwind trip back to Michigan for the weekend so we could see family (or...should we say so family could see Brielle) and so Kathi could have a shopping day with the Lohman ladies.
The trip included Brielle's first trip to Crane's orchard with Grandpa and Grandma Carlson...
as well as Brielle's first experience at a Hope volleyball game with Dad, Grandpa Grotenhuis, Uncle Eric, Grant, and Brooke.
Brielle also spent a little time teaching Grandpa Grotenhuis how to read the Sunday paper...and emphasizing the importance of looking through the inserts...such as Target, Kohls, and of course the coupons!
And of course there isn't a weekend home without a little cuddle time with Grandma Grotenhuis!
Hi everyone! Brielle here to once again update you on what's been going on this past week and a half! Well since Mommy's side of the family visited a couple of weeks ago, it was Daddy's side to make the visit last weekend. Yep, Grandpa and Grandma Carlson made the trek to see me. (They wanted to see Mommy and Daddy too...but I'm pretty sure mainly me!) I think Daddy was the one to plan this visit because it just so happened to fall on a home Penn State football game. Lucky for me Grandpa and Grandma were willing to babysit while Mommy and Daddy went to the football game. I sure did have a great time! Grandma taught me to play the Four Seasons by Vivaldi. She said next trip she'll teach me the ever so difficult Alpine Polka. (I hear Grandpa Grotenhuis would really like me to play that for him!) Grandpa Carlson took me for a stroller ride through the neighborhood and we just played all day long. They wore me out so much that I took a 4 hour nap the next day! (Which I NEVER do...so needless to say Mommy and Daddy took a nice long nap too!)
and then she asked me to help put it away!
Man...are there child labor laws against this?!!
